The Ronin's Sunflower
by NakeBenihime
Summary: Fuu x Jin short oneshot: SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 26! After all his travels with her, he finally realizes for whom he's truly wielding his sword. Details the events after Jin defeated Kariya and before Fuu found Mugen lying on the beach below.


_**The Ronin's Sunflower**_

**(A FuuJin short oneshot. Spoilers for episode 26 as this story begins in the middle of the action.)**

"_There is no master worth risking your life for...Isn't that what you said?"_

"_Yes, I have always fought for myself. My sword was nothing but a sword for myself...However..."_

These words uttered by a resolute Jin, to his opponent Kariya, the assassin sent by the shogunate to kill Fuu, rolled off his tongue until he realized why he now fought for someone other than himself. Standing at the edge of that cliff, it surprised him to discover what had been so obvious all this time, throughout his long journey with Fuu and Mugen. He smirked an unusual smirk as he stared down the exceptionally skilled hired man. To Jin, it seemed he was painted up against the deep, clear blue late afternoon sky of Ikitsuki Island.

The smirk became a wince as the old samurai's blade slide in between two of his back ribs and into the side of his torso. His breathing halted as the blade's tip scraped past his right lung. Jin stood still, gritting his teeth, peering directly at Fuu through the slits of his eyes, as he pulled out his own blade from the gut of the old man. The geezer had never seen anyone attempt such a brave move in his entire violent life. The old crow dropped to the ground onto his side like a corpse doll as he tightly gripped the hilt of his sword with two baby's fists. It slid back out of Jin's torso as his own blood mixed and clashed with the bright green grass.

Jin grabbed his injured right side, gritting his teeth from the slicing pain as he began to sink to his knees. Fuu sprinted to him, pushing his chest upwards with her little hands to keep him on his feet. She smeared the blood from his wounds over more of his half-bare chest, unwittingly, as she searched his dulling eyes for contact.

"_Jin! Jin!" _she screamed up to his face, as it drooped along with his slumped-forward body. His long, ragged, black mane obscured most of his face and eyes as the sweat caused it to stick to his pale skin. He grunted and gasped, desperately searching for a way to breathe.

"Fuu..." he whispered, still gasping, and now coughing slightly as his arms hung limp by his side,_ "Fuu..."_

"Don't try to talk, Jin," she said gently, imploringly, still maneuvering his shoulders in as stable a stance as she could find for him, "I almost can't believe you did that for me..."

"But," he said abruptly, squirting the word out along with a jolt of pain, "how...could I not?"

"I don't want you to die!" she shrieked at him, then shut her mouth as if biting her own tongue. "Not for me, anyway...I'm not worth dying for..."

Suddenly, an enormously loud explosion ripped through the air from the shore below the cliff, forcing Fuu's head to turn around from behind. She gaped at the rocks down below, gasping for fright.

"_Mugen!"_ she screamed, the tears welling up in her eyes as she quickly turned back to Jin, burying her forehead into his collarbone. He could hear her muffled sob as it caused her whole body to quiver while he lifted his left hand and gently planted the tips of his fingers onto her delicate shoulder blade.

"_Why are you both doing this?"_ she wept, pulling her face away from Jin's chest just enough to enunciate the words. "Why do you both have to die?"

After hearing her rhetoric, his face lifted into a small grin as his deep, brown eyes softened. He pulled her into his bosom, wrapping both his arms around her tiny frame with what little strength he could muster.

"As long as I walk amongst the living," he began, his voice singing over her round, huddled head, "I will spend the rest of my life protecting you, even if it means I must give it up, Fuu..."

Suddenly, her body relaxed and the shaking ceased as it only now jolted slightly from taking a sobbing breath here and there. She glanced up at him, calmly with her saddened, watery eyes as they met his strong, serious gaze upon her.

"Don't you see?" he began again, still muttering softly under his raspy breath, "My sword is for you now. _I fight for you..."_

As amazed as she was to hear this confession, it only made her tears flow more forcefully whilst peering back up into his glistening eyes. She wiped her wet face with her fingers, moving to his left, wedging herself under his left arm and side. His arm draped over the span of her narrow shoulders as she held on to his forearm for leverage.

"Come on now, Jin," she said, her face screwing up with a new determination, "lean as much of your weight onto me as you can. We need to get down to Mugen. This time, you can rely on my strength for a change..."

Jin's little grin returned as a soft chuckle escaped his lips. Fuu, careful not to hold onto his right side with her right hand, placed it instead on the small of his back over the remaining half of his torn dark blue kimono. She moved her right foot out in front so as to guide him into a stride like a horse she had just reigned into a lope. Their steps finally synchronized, and Jin lumbering along beside her, they descended the side of the tall cliff, gazing at the setting sun as it sunk into the dusk of their fate...

...The End.


End file.
